Lycanthropy
by TrueAisu
Summary: A Defense Against the Dark Arts assignment, as completed by James Potter.


**Lycanthropy**

By James C. Potter

A howl on a moonlit night really isn't as terrifying as people seem to think it is. Werewolves, or lycanthropes, are generally misunderstood. The vast majority of werewolves are decent people, who happen to be afflicted with a disease; while it is incurable, it is not unmanageable, and many manage it quite successfully for their entire lives.

Physically, werewolves are difficult to pick out. They look like any other person for twenty-eight days out of the month, despite the rumors of excessive body hair, feral snarls, and glowing amber eyes. During the night of the full moon, they can be distinguished by their tufted tails, among other slight differences from regular wolves; during the days around their transformation, they are likely to be pale and sickly from the strain that their illness puts upon their bodies. Another way of recognizing a werewolf is by their clothes. Because most wizards are biased and fearful, werewolves are often unable to find work, and will thus often be found in shabby, second-hand clothing. For the same reasons, particularly unfortunate lycanthropes may be extremely thin, as they can be unable to feed themselves on the limited amounts of money that they can scrape together.

Despite popular belief, there is no specific temperament that characterizes a werewolf. Although their furrier side is more prominent near the full moon, that means very little; while some lycanthropes may be surly at these times, others deliberately hold back their tempers, causing them to appear even more mellow than they usually do. When transformed, a werewolf can be a danger to humans, but the danger is highly overstated. Most werewolves lock themselves securely away for the full moon, so that they cannot hurt anyone, and the ones that don't are few and far between. Furthermore, werewolves are actually rather playful with other animals and Animagi, but the males dislike having other male werewolves in the vicinity when transformed. They follow a pack dynamic, much like ordinary wolves, and feel the need to battle for dominance until their roles in the pack are secure. This can be dangerous to the werewolves fighting, but rarely to humans, unless they try to interfere in pack matters.

The werewolves that give the others a bad name are those such as Fenrir Greyback, who is notorious for killing and turning children. They should be captured and treated as any other criminal. However, it is the human side that is truly the monster in those cases; the wolf follows instincts very similar to any other animal's, seeking mainly food, shelter, and companionship. If these sorts of people were not afflicted with lycanthropy, they would still be killers, merely with different methods. We as a society need to take a step back and stop looking at lycanthropes as Dark Creatures, and instead see the humans that they really are.

Despite their affliction, many werewolves are kind, warm-hearted people. Some commit minor thefts in order to survive, but that says more about us than it does them; who are we to condemn them for something they have no control over? We tend to forget that only a handful of werewolves in history ever wanted to be turned. In the end, the monsters that we vilify were all victims once, but as soon as the next newspaper comes out, they're hated Dark Creatures. We have a responsibility to help these members of our society, rather than shun them permanently for an affliction affecting them once a month.

 _ **Grade:** D_

 _I don't know where you received your information, Mr. Potter, but the majority of it is dreadfully inaccurate. Next time, please refer to the appropriate chapters in_ Defense Against the Darkest of Creatures _ra_ _ther than making up your own information. I expect better work from you in the future._

* * *

 **A/N:** This just sort of happened while I was procrastinating on an English essay today, and I thought I'd post it here. I imagine it being an assignment at the start of the Marauders' sixth year, but it could be any time after they started working on their transformations. Wasn't really sure what genre to put it under, but whatever. Please don't kill me for not getting the next chapter of Shifted out; I've been struggling with writer's block and getting ready for graduation, and on top of that, my computer is broken; I had to edit this from my glitchy old iPod. Reviews are appreciated!


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